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Full on fantastic holiday fun as your favourite family of Blue Heelers comes to town! Summary
Rating
Good
G’day mates! It’s time for family fun at the Royal Festival Hall as your favourite Aussie puppy Bluey and her family come to the stage live in Bluey’s Big Play.
This is a larger than life, joyful production that has the kids squealing in delight. Jonathon Oxlade’s design captures the colourful aesthetic of the original in every aspect of the delightful, flexible set and right through to the enormous, human-sized puppets of the dogs we know and love so well. From the signature intro music to some silly singalongs and surprises, the show is undeniably upbeat and entertaining.
Our favourite main characters are all here – the whole family, including a cheeky guest appearance by Rita and Janet and a welcome cameo from Lucky’s Dad. The young audience just love being so close to these stars of the screen and squeal with excitement, recognising all the authentic features of the show.
Capturing characters that are so well known comes with a cost, however. Here we have the familiar voices of Dave McCormack (Bandit) and Melanie Zanetti (Chilli) but they are in the form of a recorded soundtrack, so we’re effectively watching puppets lip-synching. The sound mix is then a little echoey and artificial, so some of their inherent charm is lost. The puppets themselves certainly look the part, but come across as very solid, with movable eyes that are used to good effect, but floppy limbs that don’t always convince. The enormous team of dynamic puppeteers commit with superb energy to animate the characters, but they lack a little of the warmth of their TV counterparts.
Multiple fluid set changes take us on a journey around the Heeler home, and there are some excellent lighting choices (Richard Dinnen) and effects that fill the auditorium with magic touches. Meanwhile, the storyline itself, written by Joe Brumm, gently weaves in themes of sisterly bonding from both child and parent angles. It’s not overly complicated, offers both playful and poignant parts, but does feel a little thinly spread over 50 minutes and slightly lacks the punch of the episodic TV series.
Punch is, however, delivered in shedloads with the arrival of the Chattermax owl: the audience go wild! And an exciting, exuberant game of keepy uppy has everyone on their feet at the end of the performance (no spoilers here!).
OK so it’s not quite the same as the TV show, but it’s playfully spectacular and there’s real fun to be had here. Bluey’s Big Play is a great day out for little fans who will definitely be impressed to see these supersized stars on the stage. Definitely wackadoo!
Written by Joe Brumm
Directed by Rosemary Myers
Composed by Joff Bush
Designed by Jonathon Oxlade
Lighting Designed by Richard Dinnen
Bluey’s Big Play runs until Sunday 7 January. Further information and bookings can be found here.
